Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Biggie Sis sent a link to a BJD handkerchief dress tutorial by skelly jelly and since I have a lot of handkerchiefs I thought I'd give it a try.

I chose Elnora to be my model because she is so often neglected.

Elnora's original dress

I got Elnora at the Doll and Teddy Bear Show several years ago. Although her tag says $20, I think I got her for $12 or $15 because the vendors were packing up and eager to leave. She is a 12 inch hard plastic doll. She had stapled-on clothes which I removed as soon as I got her home. For a long time she wore this dress that I made for her.

Elnora's green dress

So anyway, back to the handkerchief dresses. First I spread out my hankies to see what I had.

Elnora surrounded by hankies

Then I chose one and made my cuts.

Cuttings

Then I pinned and sewed per the tute, although instead of pleating the skirt I gathered it.

Pinning

More pinning

I sewed 6 inches of ribbon to the point of the bodice but I recommend a much longer piece, unless you have very small hands or a small child available to tie it. I put a strip of velcro up the back rather than use a snap. Also, the tute doesn't say what to do with the excess waistband, so I just cut it off.

Elnora models her dress

I was so impressed with the dress that I made one for Glinda too. Glinda is an 11 inch hard plastic doll. I think I got her on eBay. Here is her original outfit.

Glinda's Glinda outfit

Apparently I named her Genevieve but I always call her Glinda and I think Glinda she will always be. I made her a hankie dress too, and a headband.

Elnora and Glinda in their hankie dresses

I tried a headband on Elnora but it didn't look right

Now I am eyeing a couple of bandannas that HLP will never miss, for the bigger girls.

A couple of hours later--I couldn't resist making a bandanna dress, this time for Caroline.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Mrs. Smith and I went thrifting last week for the first time in ages. When I found an infant/toddler sized flouncy skirt, I had a sudden inspiration!

18-month size skirt

Easy flouncy skirts for the girls! I simply cut down both side seams and wrapped each piece around a doll to see where to sew the side seam for the new skirt.

Maria and Temerity show off their new skirts

I had also found trousers with flouncy legs.

These were size 2/3 Toddler

Lorraine had been giving me very furious looks because she was being neglected. Also, after reading Nymphaea's latest post at The Doll Barn, I was feeling guilty about neglecting Casilda too. SoI decided to use these flounces to make skirts for Lorraine and Cassie. The trouser legs were nice and stretchy so they worked well for the bodices.

Lorraine is too young not to have straps on her dress

There was even enough fabric left to make one more dress, so I chose Starla, my 16" Tonner doll. I wasn't sure how long it should be so I haven't finished it yet. I tried three lengths.

Short

Long

Longest

Who wore it best?

That's all I was going to sew yesterday but then I started looking at Belinda. She didn't say anything but I knew she was hoping. So I took a little toddler dress with a picture of fireworks on it and began to cut it down for her. I didn't get very far but she knows she's next on the list.

"I was afraid I'd been forgotten."

And just so you know that Cassie hadn't totally been neglected, a couple of months ago Mrs. Smith stopped by and took over my computer, so I was forced to sit at my sewing machine. I picked up a couple of pieces of felt and was inspired to make something for Cassie.

Very mod

Now I can't wait to get back to work and look for more flouncy skirts!